Show THE LAW AND THE DILEMMA the sometime friends of and cla morera for the geary anti chinese law have probably learned much the past month as to public senti ment upon a question that really ot serves to be b deemed 1 lf national importance and ana yet is a question that cannot bw be answered by clamor nor solved by mere legislative enactment there are anu and la in all ages agea have been problems pro blema which ube one drastic legislative measure shower itself unable to settle which indeed endured a score ol of hostile tb and ana stin still hud hu to be decided and alimi bateu by concession conces siou on both sides by arbitration by a lf if the underlying polut point of if ifie ference rence without too strict a regard tut hir the legal forma procedures and alid penalties designed lot lor its removal we shall not now be deemed pard panl san aan or even pro chinese nese for fer initialing that thai the bill in question is unpopular for a reaction against it has plainly manifested itself in tile the very sections where it was most vehemently insisted upon neither may our position pO Billon be questioned when we assert and maintain the general proposition that the beat way to get gel rid bf a an unpopular or a bad law ih ib strictly and energetically to eli enforce force it but whether un unpopular popular or law jaw is upon the boche and by the highest authority has been pronounced constitutional tut tuti ional ordinarily the only thing lift would be to carry its if provisions drastic or ridiculous into effect but kere here comes the difficulty say aay that the enforcement of the law will require a very large sum ol of money running into the millions mil llone while there la in jess jeaa than twenty thousand dollars available for the purpose ee A grievous financial obstacle would accordingly seem to stand in the way besides babides this thir there to is a moral obstacle that cannot so BO easily be surmounted toe the instructions of the secretary of the treasury and undoubtedly they represented the feelings of the presidents were to the effect that no hostile action should be taken against the chinese until the law should have been paused upon by tue highest court the officials official evidently the extraordinary position mat the enactment must be deemed u L dional until the contrary was proved and of course they were ere disappointed with the decision of justice gray but the f fleet of their u dubiety on the he original question was far reaching being so closely in accord with the views oi 01 the leading chinene companies their doubts were accepted as an an authoritative that the terms of the law would never be anto enforced rood the was the chinese took the bad advice of their leading countrymen they ignored the law they or neglected to register and thus at once put themselves in the position of lawbreakers a position which most ol of them might have avoided had their advisers so willed it this latter oi the question involves a discredit to the proscribed race which goes far towards depriving them of the sympathy that would otherwise be felt tor for them supposing that china had bad passed a law requiring all americans to register within a certain time on penalty of being deported oe 0 e suppose they would have been excused or justified in refusing to comply certainly not where the alternative was presented to them either to register or to leave they would have excited no real sympathy if refusing to register they had still whined about leaving that to la the position of the chinese here and much as the law in some of its aspects especially in the motives that prompted it may be condemned there la is no justification for the failure of those affect affecter eU by it to comply with provisions that chuld in no sense have worked them an injury the question in ie interesting through out anu ana the dilemma la in which the two nations find themselves theme elvee would be amusing if it were jose jeee aeri serio oua there will be need of much skill in unraveling and probably pro babiy a display of such diplomatic ingenuity an ag the county has baa bot been favored with for a long time |